Page:The Dialogues of Plato v. 1.djvu/144
Laches.
in the grounds of fear and hope? And him I call the courageous.
Soc. Do you understand his meaning, Laches?
La. Yes ; I suppose that, in his way of speaking, the soothsayers are courageous. Nay, the soothsayer only knows what will be best. For who but one of them can know to whom to die or to live is better? And yet, Nicias, would you allow that you are yourself a soothsayer, or are you neither a soothsayer nor courageous?
Nic. What! do you mean to say that the soothsayer ought to know the grounds of hope or fear?
La. Indeed I do: who but he?
The soothsayer only knows the signs of the future. Nic. Much rather I should say he of whom I speak; for the soothsayer ought to know only the signs of things that are about to come to pass, whether death or disease, or loss of property, 196 or victory, or defeat in war, or in any sort of contest; but to whom the suffering or not suffering of these things will be for the best, can no more be decided by the soothsayer than by one who is no soothsayer.
According to Laches, Nicias is talking nonsense. La. I cannot understand what Nicias would be at, Socrates; for he represents the courageous man as neither a soothsayer, nor a physician, nor in any other character, unless he means to say that he is a god. My opinion is that he does not like honestly to confess that he is talking non- sense, but that he shuffles up and down in order to conceal the difficulty into which he has got himself You and I, Socrates, might have practised a similar shuffle just now, if we had only wanted to avoid the appearance of inconsistency. And if we had been arguing in a court of law there might have been reason in so doing; but why should a man deck himself out with vain words at a meeting of friends such as this?
Soc. I quite agree with you, Laches, that he should not. But perhaps Nicias is serious, and not merely talking for the sake of talking. Let us ask him just to explain what he means, and if he has reason on his side we will agree with him; if not, we will instruct him.
La. Do you, Socrates, if you like, ask him: I think that I have asked enough.
Soc. I do not see why I should not; and my question will do for both of us.